This invention relates to in-store point-of-sale systems, and, more specifically, to methods and systems for processing and distributing up-to-the-minute merchandising and inventory data over a communication network such as the Internet.
Electronic merchandising systems currently exist which allow consumers to purchase goods and services from a variety of different merchants over a distributed computer network such as the Internet. With systems of this type, the merchants typically establish a virtual store on a network that consumers can interactively view with a personal computer. The consumers can then purchase items offered for sale by the merchant in the virtual store.
In World Wide Web (“web”) based implementations, the virtual stores are in the form of hypertext documents, which are hosted by the websites of the respective merchants. Typically, a website is an Internet-connected computer or computer system which runs server software for serving information using standard protocols of the World Wide Web. In other implementations, a centralized computer of an online services network, for example, the Microsoft Network, Earthlink, Yahoo!Shopping, or an Internet site using proprietary applications software, may host the merchants' hypertext documents. The hypertext documents are typically accessed using a standard web browser application that runs on the consumer's computer.
For example, a consumer may direct his or her web browser to access a merchant's hypertext documents describing the items that interest the consumer. Upon viewing a desired good or service, the consumer fills out an electronic order-form that specifies the name of the consumer, a shipping address, billing information, the desired good or service, etc. The consumer's web browser then transmits the electronic order-form to the merchant's website. Upon receiving the electronic order-form, the merchant's website processes the electronic order-form to complete the sales transaction. The order-form is then sent to the merchant's fulfillment center for processing and the goods are sent to the consumer by way of U.S. Mail, Federal Express, United Parcel Service, or similar shipping carriers.
Although consumers clearly reap many benefits in today's electronic marketplace, there are still many disadvantages that lead to consumer frustration and expense. Even if merchants could easily identify willing consumers, it is difficult for a merchant to deliver up-to-date information directly to a consumer who is ready to buy. Merchants selling on both a virtual store and a brick-and-mortar store usually synchronize inventory information (available quantity, sale price, etc.) between the stores at fixed intervals because of the time required to reprogram and update the website. Therefore there is a lag between the time the information is posted on the website and the time the willing consumer comes into contact with the website.
An uncertainty is therefore created as to the validity of the information on the website concerning the actual goods or services available by the merchants. As a result many consumers are exposed to misinformation on the merchants' websites. The consumer has no way of knowing if the goods or services represented on the merchants' websites are an accurate representation as to their true description, price, or quantity at the time of viewing the website. Such stale information negatively affects the consumers, the merchants and the marketplace as a whole.
An in-store or telephone salesperson could assist the consumer in determining the availability, features, and price of an item, but only if the consumer has previously learned that the store carries suitable products and services. If the website does not accurately inform the consumer that such goods or services exist, then the consumer will never be inclined to contact the merchant. Merchants need a mechanism for delivering current information to consumers precisely at the moment when it is most helpful to the consumer.
Consumers are presented with many options to purchase goods and services on the Web, a successful merchant needs the best looking and most informative website, along with the lowest prices, to be successful. Such a website requires talented and expensive programmers to design and maintain. Merchants therefore incur great expense in establishing, updating, maintaining, and servicing a web-based merchandising site. Many small and medium-sized retailers are not technically sophisticated and cannot afford to spend the time or money required to keep a cutting edge website up and running. Therefore, they often use e-commerce hosting services such as Yahoo!Shopping, bCentral, etc., to sell on the Web.
These services typically charge a percentage of the sales made through the website as a monthly fee for hosting the merchant's virtual store. In addition to providing the server software required to run a virtual store, some services provide a means to perform real-time inventory checking. In this scheme, the hosting service software will issue queries in the form of HTPP POST requests to the merchant's web server to determine the current inventory data. The hosting service will also query the merchant's web server to determine current inventory when a new item is added to the shopping cart feature of the website and subsequently when the user confirms an order. This scheme requires the merchant to have a permanent connection to the computer network (a fixed IP address or URL) and a web server that can provide responses to the requests for inventory data. These requirements preclude a vast majority of small and medium-sized retailers from offering real-time inventory checking on virtual stores using hosting services.
Also, some brick-and-mortar retailers may not be interested in selling on the web, but want to use the web to advertise what they sell in their stores to attract on-line customers to their brick-and-mortar stores. By sending information on the items currently available at their stores to a centralized database, merchants can make this information instantly available to on-line consumers. The consumers benefit because they can save time and money by searching and then patronizing only the stores that positively have the desired items in stock and ready for sale. Thus there is a need in the market for a system to distribute inventory data in real-time to ensure that the consumer is getting the most accurate and up-to-date information about a desired purchase, and for the brick-and-mortar merchant to effectively and economically compete in the age of electronic commerce.